The present application relates generally to unique electromagnetic machinery and associated techniques, and more specifically (but not exclusively) relates to certain unique apparatus, applications, assemblies, configurations, devices, forms, methods, processes, systems, and uses of electromagnetic machinery operable as a motor or generator that includes one or more electromagnetic stator coils, at least one permanent magnet rotor assembly, and associated circuitry.
For any equipment or procedure primarily directed to the conversion of power from one form to another, the potential to increase conversion efficiency often comes under close scrutiny—especially to the extent the same decreases carbon dioxide emission or other possible greenhouse agent, and/or reduces consumption of a nonrenewable fuel (e.g. oil, natural gas, coal, etc.). State-of-the-art electromechanical machines are no exception, encompassing many rotary motor and generator designs, and related procedures. Among others, rotary motors and generators find particular application in the performance of power conversion for vehicles (hybrid, all-electric, or otherwise) and alternative energy production (e.g., deriving electricity from wind, waves, tides, streams, rivers, or the like)—just to name a few examples.
The presence of electrically conductive coils is nearly ubiquitous to all electromagnetic rotary motor and generator designs. In one form, each coil extends away from a central rotational axis along a respective radius, turning thereabout to produce a magnetic field along a magnetic axis collinear with the respective radius and/or derive electricity from a magnetic field by induction. Each respective radius is perpendicular to the rotational axis and all radii originate at about the same point therealong. While radially-oriented coil designs enjoy widespread application, so do designs with axially-oriented coils that each turn about a respective magnetic axis oriented parallel to a centrally-located axis of rotation. In a further refinement, certain designs fulfill some magnetic field production requirements with one or more permanent magnets—being of either the radial or axial design type. Accordingly, there is demand for further contributions to such areas of technology.
As a preface to the remainder of the application, guidance follows about the explicit definition of selected terminology herein. Such definition may be suggested when: (a) a new term is needed (e.g. portmanteau, neologism, etc.) that may be comprised of one or more words, letters, numerals, punctuation symbols, or other written expression adequate to determine meaning as used herein; (b) a term, its scope, or its meaning is ambiguous, confusing, inconsistent, or subject to a definitional dispute from the field perspective (defined hereinafter); (c) exercising an inventor's lexicographic discretion; or (d) addressing any other inadequacy or incongruence regarding the subject term definition. It should be recognized that a definition can be assigned to a given term (e.g. a symbol, a word, a multi-word phrase, other expression, etc.) with a formalistic, direct statement (like a dictionary entry), or with one or more other less direct approaches in addition to or in lieu of such a statement. Among these approaches are: exemplification (positive or negative examples); explanation of at least one application/implementation of the term meaning; a technical/scientific expression (mathematical language/symbolism, field-specific notation, or the like); comparison potential meanings/terms to identify differences/similarities therebetween; existence/degree of mutual exclusivity with respect to different terms or potential meanings; ranking, ordering, listing, grouping, or other subordinate relational information concerning the subject term; or negation language (what the term “is not”)—to name a few representative examples. Perhaps the most indirect approach attributes meaning to certain lexical terminology through operation of associated functional content (e.g. punctuation, function wording, etc.) that appear together in a recognizable pattern. As used herein, “definition” refers to the result of any of these techniques alone or in any combination. As set forth herein, a definition may stand on its own or belong to a list of different definitions either of which can be presented anywhere in the present application. When a subject term is initially defined, it is typically placed in double quotation marks (“ ”) or demarcated by a colon (:) and closely followed by a description to directly/indirectly ascribe meaning. Alternatively, terminology subject to definition may closely precede a parenthetical description that attributes meaning. Alternatively, a parenthetical can spell-out/expand an acronym or abbreviation that closely precedes it or can enclose such acronym or abbreviation with the expanded description in close proximity thereto. Within parentheses, single quotes (‘ ’) are used instead of double quotes (“ ”) but otherwise have the same effect. In addition to these aforementioned applications, parentheses, single quotation marks, double quotation marks, and colons can be used to selectively demarcate or offset terminology in a manner that otherwise enhances understanding of the associated subject matter. The definition of a subject term shall uniformly apply to each occurrence thereof even if the form or formatting of such term varies with different occurrences. In some situations, quotation marks, parentheticals, colons, or the like may be used to attribute meaning to a subject term more than once—in which case the broadest reasonable meaning and scope of such term should be ascertained by cumulatively considering all definitional information together collectively. However, upon the introduction of information that is inconsistent with any prior attribution of meaning for a given term, the cumulative meaning without consideration of such information is favored. While most often set forth upon first occurrence of a subject term, the definition of a subject term is applicable to every occurrence throughout the present application—including any occurrence of such term in advance of the definition unless unambiguously directed otherwise in an accompanying statement herein. The definition of a subject term also applies even if such term is nested within the definition of a different term or language within the definition description depends on another definition set forth herein. It should be appreciated that an unambiguous written statement directed to the definition of a given term shall take precedence over any of the foregoing. However, such statement and all the other content of the present application shall be understood in a manner that is not repugnant to the usual meaning of the given term. The following list of definitions concludes this preface:                (1) “Field Perspective” means either one or both of: (a) the perspective of those with common knowledge or general knowledge, or (b) the perspective of those of ordinary skill in the art(s)/field(s) relevant to the subject matter of the present application.        (2) “Portion” broadly refers to a part, piece, or component that is separate from the whole and also to any part, piece, or component that is integral to, included in, and/or a constituent of the whole.        (3) “Or” as the penultimate term of a list with multiple entries (items) imparts an “inclusive disjunction” operation (also designated ‘alternation’) to the entries so that the list is applicable (i.e. it returns a positive result) as long as at least one of the entries exists, happens, or is performed—and is also applicable with the coexistence, happening, or performance of any combination of the entries (including a combination of all entries). However, to the extent there is an unambiguous indication contrary to inclusive disjunction operation, a different operation can result. Such indication can arise from: lexical content of one or more list entries (e.g. two or more entries are mutually exclusive); modification of the inclusive disjunction operation by a different part of the sentence that includes the list (e.g. “no more than one of . . . ” that closely precedes the list); or other application language asserting the alteration or replacement of inclusive disjunction operation with respect to the list. In comparison, “exclusive disjunction” operation of the conjunction “or” as the penultimate term of a multi-entry list is more restricted because the list is only applicable if only one entry exists, happens, or is performed (so the coexistence, happening, or performance of multiple entries renders the list inapplicable). “It is night, day, noon, or midnight . . . ” provides a further example in which inclusive disjunction operation is changed to the extent there is only a partial degree of mutually exclusivity. Specifically, in this sentence night/day and noon/midnight are mutually exclusive, while night/midnight and day/noon are not mutually exclusive. The resulting possibilities are: (1) night, (2) both night and midnight, (3) day, (4) both day and noon. This example favors a “hybrid” form of operation that excises mutual exclusivity to the extent present while preserving the results of disjunction operation otherwise. However, if the inclusive disjunction operation of “or” cannot be reasonably preserved to a meaningful extent, the alternative is exclusive disjunction operation.        (4) “And” as the penultimate term of a multi-entry list presumptively imparts conjunctive operation so the list only applies upon coexistence, happening, or performance of all the entries. However, accompanying language can replace this operation with another such as inclusive disjunction. For instance, given a list of “A, B, and C . . . ,” certain preceding language indicates inclusive disjunction operation is more favorable, as in “one or more of A, B and C . . . ,” “at least one of A, B, and C,” and the like.        (5) “Permanent magnetic material” means one or more of: (a) a substance including iron (Fe); (b) a substance including Nickel (Ni); (c) a substance including Cobalt (Co); (d) loadstone, magnetite, Titanium/Iron (Ti/Fe) oxides like titanornagnetites (Fe3-xTixO4 for x between 0 and 1), or other substance found in nature with natural magnetism; (e) any ferromagnetic substance; (f) any ferrimagnetic substance; (g) any substance exhibiting magnetism that persists at a sufficient magnitude for an acceptable duration while under temperature and pressure conditions suitable for its intended purpose (to the extent applicable)—where such magnetism persists even when the subject substance is separated from an external magnetic field source that initially magnetizes the same (if any); or (h) any combination of two or more of the substances described under (5)(a)-(5)(g) hereinbefore. To dispel any doubt, a permanent magnetic material does not include a substance that is diamagnetic or paramagnetic under conditions suitable for its intended use (such as temperature or pressure). A permanent magnetic material can take any of a number of forms, such as a metallic alloy including Fe, Co, or Ni; iron oxides or sulfides, ceramics, a different compound type, or the like; provided that it includes at least one of the substances described under (5)(a)-(5)(h) set forth hereinbefore. Some common/desired permanent magnetic materials include ferrite, ALNICO (any of several different Aluminum-Nickel-Cobalt alloys), rare earth element alloys (e.g. Samarium-Cobalt (Sm—Co) combinations like SmCo5 or Sm(Co, Fe, Cu, Zr)7 and Neodymium-Iron (Nd—Fe) combinations like Nd5Fe14B), Yttrium-Iron-Garnet (YIG) combinations, other alloys/compounds comprised of Fe or Co, and the like. Whether a permanent magnetic material is present depends on composition of the subject device—recognizing that the flow of electric charge along a predefined pathway of a device (e.g. an electrical coil, electromagnet, winding, solenoid, superconductor, or the like) can provide a persistent magnetic field although no permanent magnetic material is present. Even so, other devices provide a persistent magnetic field by directing a controlled electric charge flow through a winding and also with a permanent magnetic material in one or more constituents thereof, such as a ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic core of the winding that exhibits persistent magnetism even when electric charge is not flowing through such winding.        (6) “Magnetically Active Device” means any source of a magnetic field, including without limitation: (a) a permanent magnet (e.g., a magnetized element of ferromagnetic and/or ferrimagnetic composition) from which the magnetic field persists long-term despite the absence of an externally applied magnetic field; (b) an electromagnet responsive to an electric charge flow to change strength of the magnetic field generated thereby, or (c) an inductor with an electric charge flow pathway (whether such electric charge flow is static or time-varying) shaped with one or more turns aligned to generate the magnetic field when the electric charge flows along the pathway (e.g., including without limitation: an electrically conductive winding about an iron core, a paramagnetic core, a diamagnetic core, or air core; a transformer; a solenoid, or the like—just to name a few). Inclusive disjunction operation applies to any of the information under (6)(a)-(6)(c), i.e. two or more of these meanings may apply to a given magnetically active device, may overlap in scope, or otherwise be redundant. For avoidance of doubt, this definition does not encompass a straight or curved electrically conductive wire with less than one complete turn. It should be appreciated that any two magnetically active devices may be positioned relative to one another to either magnetically repel (same poles closer to each other than opposing poles) or magnetically attract (opposing poles closer to each other than the same poles)        (7) “Magnetic Axis” means an axis that is dependent on the “m” number of poles integrated in the subject device. For a two-pole (m=2) ideal “dipole” model (or differs from the ideal only negligibly), this axis is a straight line that intersects the opposing poles in the “center” of each as depends on the geometry of the device material. This model is frequently used to define the magnetic axis of the Earth's magnetic field. Further, under this model the magnetic axis is coincident with the longitudinal centerline of an ideal elongate bar magnet. It should be appreciated that the magnetic axis is used herein to provide a reference/base for describing various magnetic field characteristics, as appropriate. Likewise, the magnetic axis for a multi-turn winding corresponds to its centerline longitude through its core (air, ferrous, or otherwise). For comparison purposes, if m>2, for 2m poles (such as a quadrupole, sextupole, and higher even-number pole types), the axis is the locus of points along which the 2(m−1) terms are zero (0).        (8) “Bifilar” means two approximately parallel elongate electrical conductors held in a spaced apart relationship and electrically insulated from each other. Without limitation, these electrical conductors may each be a twisted or untwisted single unitary filament, a multi-stranded arrangement, a braid, a thread, cabling, wire with any type of cross-section, or the like—just to name a few. By way of further nonlimiting example, the distance separating the two conductors is equal to or less than two times the maximum width of the conductor taken transverse to its longitude. In one twisted form, individual metal filaments turn about one another and each has a helical structure complimentary to the other.        